City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open down one point from Friday's close of 6,730.67 as investors gear up for a busy week, with trading set to pick up following the quiet festive period. Over in the US, stocks ended mixed on Friday on a low-volume day as investors digested comments from out-going Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who delivered a prepared speech at the American Economic Association. Bernanke said that the US economy was poised for stronger growth in the short term, as he defended the central bank's move to scale back stimulus last month. Back on this side of the Atlantic, all eyes will be on European services PMIs due out later this morning. According to Craig Erlam, Market Analyst at Alpari, the release attracting the most interest will probably be the French PMI. He explained: "Last week, the manufacturing PMI showed a significant amount of contraction in the sector in December, which acted as a reminder that the Eurozone's second-largest economy is seriously struggling to get the economy moving again. "We're expecting a similar result today, with the services PMI seen falling to 47.4 from 48 in November. This will be a cause for concern for investors, with France already at risk of falling into yet another recession in the fourth quarter, after recording a small contraction in the third." Meanwhile, the December Chinese HSBC services PMI registered a month-on-month drop, falling from 52.5 to 50.9. Although this marks growth still, it has nonetheless raised concerns that the country is having trouble maintaining such strong growth. Company wise, UK aerospace engineer Meggitt has appointed David Johnson as Chief Operating Officer, effective immediately. Johnson will step down as President of Meggitt Equipment Group to take on the newly created role and will be responsible for the group's operating divisions.HICL Infrastructure Company issued a statement on changes to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) rules which came into effect on January 1st 2014. "It is the board's intention that the company will continue to conduct its affairs [as an investment trust [...] and IFAs [independent financial advisers] should therefore be able to recommend its ordinary shares to ordinary retail investors in accordance with the FCA's rules relating to non-mainstream investment products." Infrastructure giant Balfour Beatty said it has won a £154m joint venture contract to transform the London 2012 Olympic Stadium into an all-round multi-use venue. "Balfour Beatty will lead the transformation of the stadium, delivering a lasting sporting, cultural and commercial legacy in East London," the group explained.Today's attention will also be directed towards retailers, which gave a choppy performance last week following mixed results on the High Street. This week will see a number of chains release performance figures for the Christmas period, including Marks & Spencer, Tesco and Sainsbury. Looking ahead, Erlam added: "It really is going to be quiet a chaotic week in the financial markets, particularly the latter half of the week, which will include the first batch of company earnings, the FOMC minutes from last month's meeting, BoE and ECB rate decisions and the December US jobs report. "There's still plenty to focus on in the first half of the week though, especially compared to the last couple of weeks, which were severely lacking in data, earnings and trading volumes." NR
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